She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
Parallel Translations
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She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
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She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
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She layeth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Proverbs 31:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 35:25-26 All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. All the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle,…
Pro 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
Ver. 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle.] {a} Notwithstanding her late purchase, and planting a vineyard {Pro 31:16} and other out businesses. {See Trapp on "Pro 31:13"} The two cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius, coming from King Henry VIII on a message to Queen Catherine of Spain, a little before the divorce, found her with a skein of red silk about her neck, being at work with her maiden. {b} And Queen Anne Boleyn kept her maids, and all that were about her, so busied in sewing and working, that neither was there seen any idleness among them, nor any leisure to follow such pastimes as are usually in princes’ courts. {c}
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{a} Lucretia inter ancillas ad Lucernam fila ducebat.
{b} Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, p. 69.
{c} Acts and Mon., fol. 957.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By her own example she provoketh her servants to…
By her own example she provoketh her servants to labour. And although in these later and more delicate and luxurious times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried are to this day called in the language of our law spinsters.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain She layeth her hands to the spindle,.... As Penelope…
She layeth her hands to the spindle,.... As Penelope and her maidens did (t). Or spinning wheel, more properly, the wheel itself, which is laid hold on by the right hand, and turned round;
and her hands hold the distaff; the rock, stick, or staff, about which the wool is wrapped, which is spun, and is held in the left hand; for though hands are mentioned in both clauses, yet it is only with one hand the wheel is turned, and the distaff held with the other. Not only wool and flax were sought by her, Pro 31:13; but she spins them, and works them up into garments her web is not like the spider's, spun out of its own bowels, on which it hangs; to which the hope and trust of a hypocrite are compared, and whose webs do not become garments to cover them, Job 8:14; but the church's web is both for ornament, to the adorning of her profession, and for defence and protection from the calumnies of the world; for by these are meant good works, as Ambrose interprets them.
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(t) Homer, Odyss. 1. v. 357. & 21. v. 351.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain She layeth - By her own example she provokes…
She layeth - By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times, such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried unto this day are called in the language of our law, Spinsters.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle]
Verse 19. She layeth her hands to the spindle]
10. She gives an example of skill and industry to her household. She takes the distaff, that on which the wool or flax was rolled; and the spindle, that by twisting of which she twisted the thread with the right hand, while she held the distaff in the guard of the left arm, and drew down the thread with the fingers of the left hand. Allowing that spindle and distaff are proper translations of כישור kishor, and פלך pelech, this was their use, and the way in which they were used. The spindle and distaff are the most ancient of all the instruments used for spinning, or making thread. The spinning-wheel superseded them in these countries; but still they were in considerable use till spinning machinery superseded both them and the spinning-wheels in general.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 31:19. She layeth her hands to the spindle…
Pro 31:19. She layeth her hands to the spindle — By her own example she provokes her servants to labour. And although in these latter and more delicate times such mean employments are grown out of fashion among great persons, yet they were not so in former ages, neither in other countries, nor in this land; whence all women unmarried, unto this day, are called, in the language of our law, spinsters.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Strong things, "becoming" (Septuagint) her station. (Calmet) --- Spindle.…
Strong things, "becoming" (Septuagint) her station. (Calmet) --- Spindle. She purposes and begins well, trusting in God for perfection and a reward. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain No work, however mean, if honest, is disdained.
No work, however mean, if honest, is disdained.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. The spindle… the distaff — It is not…
19. The spindle… the distaff — It is not entirely certain to which parts of the Eastern spinning apparatus these terms were applied. Stuart renders the first word by distaff, and the second by spindle. “In the East the spindle is held in the hand, often perpendicularly, and is twirled in one, while the other draws out the thread.” — Gesenius. The distaff is the staff for holding the bunch of flax or wool from which the thread is drawn when spinning. “I saw a woman sitting at the door of her hut on Zion spinning woollen yarn with a spindle, while another near her was twirling nimbly the ancient distaff.” — Land and Book, vol. ii, p. 572.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. spindle … distaff] Rather, distaff … spindle, with…
19. spindle … distaff] Rather, distaff … spindle, with R.V. Of the two Heb. words here used the first occurs nowhere else, but it is derived from a root which means to be straight, and therefore may properly denote the distaff, or straight rod. Of the second word, the root-meaning is to be round. It is used of the circuit or circle round, the environs of, Jerusalem (Neh_3:12; Neh. 14:15).
“Till comparatively recent times the sole spinning implements were the spindle and distaff. The spindle, which is the fundamental apparatus in all spinning, was nothing more nor less than a round stick or rod of wood, about 12 inches in length, tapering towards each extremity, and having at its upper end a notch or slit, into which the yarn might be caught or fixed. In general, a ring or whorl of stone or clay was passed round the upper part of the spindle to give it momentum and steadiness when in rotation. The distaff or rod was a rather longer and stronger bar or stick, around one end of which, in a loose coil or ball, the fibrous material to be spun was wound. The other extremity of the distaff was carried under the left arm, or fixed in the girdle at the left side, so as to have the coil of flax in a convenient position for drawing out to yarn.” Encyclop. Britann. Art. Linen, vol. xiv. p. 664. 9th edition.
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An illustration of the use of these implements is found in Catullus, Epithal. de nupt. Pel. et Thet. 312 sqq.:
“Læva colum molli lana retinebat amictum:
Dextera turn leviter deducens fila supinis
Formabat digitis; turn prono in pollice torquens
Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain YODH. She layeth her hands to the spindle. rwOvyKi.…
YODH. She layeth her hands to the spindle. rwOvyKi. (kishor, a word not occurring elsewhere) is probably not the spindle, but the distaff, i.e. the staff to which is tied the bunch of flax from which the spinning wheel draws the thread. To this she applies her hand; she deftly performs the work of spinning her flax into thread. Her hands hold the distsaff. (pelek) is the spindle, the cylindrical wood (afterwards the wheel) on which the thread winds itself as it is spun. The hands could not be spared to hold the distaff as well as the spindle, so the first clause should run, "She stretches her hand towards the distaff." In the former clause kishor occasioned some difficulty to the early translators, who did not view the word as connected with the process of spinning. The Septuagint translates, "She stretches out her arms to useful works (epi ta sumferonta );" Vulgate, Manum suam misit ad fortia. So Aquila and Symmachus, andreia . This rather impedes the parallelism of the two clauses. There was nothing derogatory in women of high rank spinning among their maidens, just as in the Middle Ages noble ladies worked at tapestry with their attendants. We remember how Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was found sitting in the midst of her handmaids, carding wool and spinning (Livy, 1:57). Catullus, in his "Epithal. Pel. et Thet.," 312, describes the process of spinning"Laeva colum molli lana retinebat amictum; Dextera tum leviter deducens fila supinis Formabat digitis; tum prono in pollice torquens Libratum tereti versabat turbine fusum. ("Carm.," 64.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 31:19-21 A virtuous wife is generous to the poor,…
31:19-21 A virtuous wife is generous to the poor, another characteristic of wise people (11:24-26; 21:13; 22:9, 16, 22-23; 28:27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.